Tuesday's letters: Good reasons

Tuesday

Apr 17, 2012 at 12:01 AM

Good reasons

To the editor: There are certain requirements that must be met in order to become married in North Carolina. The couple who would marry must be of legal age, must not be close kin, must not currently be married, and must be of different sexes (one man and one woman).

To the editor: There are certain requirements that must be met in order to become married in North Carolina. The couple who would marry must be of legal age, must not be close kin, must not currently be married, and must be of different sexes (one man and one woman).Each of those requirements is discriminatory. But is this discrimination bad? I don’t think so. There are good reasons for those requirements, and no good reasons to eliminate or change them. Vote for the marriage amendment to the N.C. Constitution.Gary BrysonPenrose

To the editor: As I read the many letters regarding gay rights and the comments of our commissioners regarding separation of state and religious beliefs, I see that mischief is winning and faith is losing.Wearing a sanctimonious robe and casting the first stone is as popular as ever, only now it’s done with laws. But apparently laws can be trumped by beliefs as shown by the answers our county commissioners gave when asked if could they set aside religious beliefs when it came to serving as commissioners (April 11 Times-News). Even as Charlie Messer, Bill O’Connor, Mike Hawkins and Dennis Justice stand applying for government jobs, while they were all proud to express their beliefs, not one of them had the guts to say simply that he stood by the First Amendment.

Beliefs are those “truths” that one, or one group, wants or wishes — nothing more. It’s enough that we need a government to hold a country together; we don’t need preachers as well. When it comes to running this country, state or county, keep your faith and give me the Constitution any day.Robert KauflHendersonville

To the editor: Why would people agree to say “yes” to anything that is going to cost them money and gain them nothing? If you are a North Carolina taxpayer, that’s exactly what you will be doing if you vote “yes” on the constitutional domestic legal union amendment.The state will be obliged to defend it against all lawsuits if it passes. Such litigation is not free. Furthermore, because of Section One of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, this proposed state amendment is unconstitutional. Section One reads: “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”Since the Supreme Court has already decided the private lives question in Lawrence v. Texas (2003), all parts of this mumbo-jumbo amendment are simply designed to cost the taxpayers money.Vote against the proposed constitutional amendment. Or be prepared to pay big legal fees.

Gary GilchristMills River

To the editor: Mr. Hinkle, your letter states the website I used was socially liberal. Here is a solution for you. Go to Google, put in cost of Bush tax cuts, pick a website and see if my facts are correct.Here is one for you from The Washington Post, which states the cost of the Bush tax cuts since 2001 is $1,034,424,338,581 for the top 5 percent of taxpayers only. You state that I am of the opinion that the tax cuts are the only reason for the bad fiscal state of the country. To the contrary, I stated in my first letter that two unfunded wars that were never a budget item but were paid for as special appropriations to hide the cost are equally to blame.My point was and is that while it’s fashionable for the GOP to blame everything on Barack Obama, he can hardly be blamed for two tax cuts he wasn’t in Congress for and two wars he opposed but the costs of which go on and on and on. Obama’s budgets have all been blocked by the GOP, so there have been no budgets passed. Sorry you didn’t win; try again.Dale ChristianHendersonville

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.